The Nightmare In Middleton
by Amanuansis908
Summary: (Okay, so this used to be my 'A Walk In the Dark' oneshot, but I decided to expand on the story, so I edited the what now is the prologue and am currently writing more) Jennifer Stoppable is about to enter the fifth grade when new neighbors move in at the end of the street. They are mysterious and seem to be conspiring with several of her parent's old foes..Disney Villains AU!
1. Six Years Ago

It was dark. Dark enough to question the existence of light, dark enough to uncover even the toughest man's childhood nightmares. But Ron wasn't the toughest, and luckily, wasn't in total darkness. The young man fresh out of high school clenched a dim flashlight, aiming it at the ground in front of him, and a full moon was present above him. His heart pounded as he strode one foot in front of the other, his purpose in the eerie, dank woods sent a chill down his spine. It was his girlfriend, Kim, who had suggested to split up, but he had protested, knowing the horrible outcome of dispersing in horror movies. She had just laughed and dismissed his comment back then. Now Ron wondered if she regretted her decision.

He continued on forward, bringing out and unfolding a topographic map of the area, reviewing the places he had circled. He had decided to scan the places closest to their campsite, while Kim ventured further out. It wasn't necessarily the lack of illumination that scared him straight, it was _what_ he was supposed to look for that did. An owl hooted in the distance as Ron went a little faster. Two days ago, five people from different campsites in the national park had nearly been mauled to death by an unknown animal, though presumed to be a grizzly, but the authorities had still put his girlfriend in charge of finding it. Ron recalled how vividly one of the victims had described his attack, claiming to have been ambushed by something considerably large and furry with smoldering amber eyes and teeth that seemed to gleam in the darkness as he had been attempting to use the bathroom.

The fact of how silent the creature had stalked the man was equally frightening, and Ron prayed that he would never come upon it while the sun was out or not. Around half an hour had passed as he checked his cell phone for the time, and he had been told to return to the site in two hours, whether he found anything or not. He halted dead in his tracks when his flashlight pointed out something of interest on the bed of dead leaves and soil. A footprint was visible and Ron breathed a sigh of relief when he realized it was just a human one. But this also got him thinking, was that his? Had he been walking in circles this entire time? Had his crusade into oblivion been in vain? Out of sheer curiosity, he put his foot next to the print, proving that indeed, it was not his, but much smaller. More questions flooded into his head. Who else would be out in the woods close to midnight? Why? Ron knew he was never going to go anywhere if he resumed brooding on his grim theories and resolved to simply think about how the s'mores Kim had promised to make after the search would taste and how he would giggle and guffaw over his silly fantasies.

But no more than two seconds after his resolution did his ideas return with a particular vengeance. The footprint had become a trail, every print appearing farther apart. Having no other path to follow and an hour time limit, he thought it worthwhile. After about the seventh or so track, it began to be obvious that whoever made it, was in a hurry, the marks never coming close together, except for one part of it, where the person slowed down, nearly stopping, to ditch his or her shoes, and resumed the run barefoot. Then things became stranger as the footprints started to look less human and more animal, until they were completely feral. Ron's concentration was broken, however, when he heard a strangled cry and hurried to where it was coming from in a clearing a few meters away.

A huddled shape wearing a blue puffy jacket and leggings streaked with fresh blood was quivering off to the side. Ron immediately recognized it as Kim and instantly rushed to her side. "What happened?" He asked, scanning the area frantically with his flashlight. But alas, he could not get a serious answer out of her, for she was delirious. Finally she uttered one word that made sense. "W-wolf…" She stammered before she lost consciousness. Well, this was a fine turn of events. Ron checked his cell, but as luck would have it, there was no signal. To top it off, the time read exactly midnight, there was no hope of any search parties coming at this hour, and his battery was low. He didn't want to leave Kim, and he felt if they just waited, the wolf she had mentioned might return, so he made a difficult decision to go back to the campsite with her. He first pulled back out his map, illuminated with his flashlight, and estimated where he was. If Kim was near the lake and wandered to his designated area, he was farther from camp than if _he_ was the one who wandered into her area, which was the more believable situation. Nevertheless, he had to act fast and soon, for he knew not how bad his girlfriend's wounds were.

Ron struggled to lift her up, but in the end, was successful, and managed to tread around half a mile where he was almost certain the campsite was. He took a short break, setting the unconscious girl down, and heard an ominous howl in the distance and picked her back up and went forth into the woods again. The odds were almost never in Ron's favor, and it showed when his flashlight died, leaving him in total darkness. The dim light of a lantern glowed just a five minute jog away, and relief washed over him. He quickened his pace and reached the campsite, except something was different, save for the lantern that was definitely not out or on when either of them had left, but the twin tents were in the same place and Ron set her down in her sleeping bag in her tent and zipped up the door flap. Just as he turned around to face the deep, dark woods, he heard a voice that at past midnight, his sleep-deprived brain could not distinguish.

"Welcome back," it said. "We've been expecting you." Then he heard the growls of not one, not two, but three, bloodthirsty wolves with sharp, electric eyes and gleaming white teeth emerge out of the darkness, waiting for the signal to attack. "Sic him girls."


	2. Beware the Buyers

_Ratatatatatatata._ Rain incessantly pelted the roof of the Stoppable household, a dreary lullaby of sorts to which one girl was listening to in the upstairs other master bedroom. She lay dismally on her bed, tangled in her purple, fuzzy sheets, several worn Cuddlebuddies spread about them. Her red, slightly wavy hair was spread on her pillow like the obscured sun. Her chocolate hued eyes were fixed on the unchanging ceiling. She sighed in utter boredom. Her best friend, Claudine, was in Paris for her mother's work and Diego, who was a few years older, she guessed she could call a just a friend, hadn't been around much. He never really was, anyways.

"Jennifer, honey, would you like some blueberry pie?" Jennifer's grandmother called from the first floor. She was there to watch Jen since the day before, on her now four-year-old brother Ryker's birthday, there had been an accident that involved a water bed too close to a screened window, seven preschoolers on it and an instructional karate video on the TV in front. Long story short, Ryker had fallen out of the window and broke his right arm and their parents took him to the ER. Yes, with no present friends, random showers and an injured brother, this had to be the most rotten summer ever. Unfortunately, it got even worse. School started the very next day.

"Jen?" Grandma Ann inquired again. Jen sat up, not bothering to look in the mirror at the incredibly bored almost-fifth grader who never really bothered to get out of bed.

"Coming," She replied hoarsely, since she hadn't spoken a word all day. She dragged her feet down the carpeted stairs to the kitchen, where her grandma had the radio on, and was currently blasting the song 'Pyromania'. As she plopped down on a chair, her grandmother placed a slice of pie in front of her and smiled. "Bon Appetit." Jen returned the grin. She was almost finished with the pie slice and the glass of milk Grandma Ann had poured for her when there was a high, screeching noise coming from outside the front door. Not many cars drove down the street Jen lived on, it was a quiet, little neighborhood. Startled by the noise, both grandmother and girl stopped what they were doing to see what was going on outside the window near the entrance and sat down on the couch underneath it.

A huge black Cadillac was driving wildly in and out of the streets that branched from Jen's like a crazy snake desperate to find its prey. The crazy machine accelerated again, tires skidding on the slick road, but this time, it was in the direction of a house at the very end of the street. Jen didn't know much about the old Victorian, just that it was for sale for an unbelievably sum, (evident by the ever-present 'For Sale' sign pounded into its lawn) was around a hundred and ten years old, claimed to be haunted according to the local high schoolers, (this was extremely probable since nothing really they said was true) and was most likely never going to be sold. When the Cadillac pulled into its driveway, windshield wipers furiously swiping at the rain, its passengers disembarked, five huddled shaped in the rain. Grandma Ann whistled.

"That was one, _crazy_ driver, huh?" Jen smirked, her eyes never leaving the passengers. It was almost impossible to see who it was that now occupied the house. She could count five-no seven figures around the wet car.

"So they finally bought the house." Jen tore her vision away from the people.

"You know them?" Grandma Ann snorted.

"No, it's just that its been for sale for so long and people have bought it at last."

Jen nodded her head briefly in agreement. _Who were these people? Why, out of_ all _the houses and neighborhoods in Middleton did they choose to move into this one?_


	3. What's Up, Dog?

" _Sic him, girls!"_ Diego's father's last words were heard as clear as day as the boy watched the scene in front of him unfold from afar. He observed unflinching, as the bloodthirsty animals threw themselves at the unseen victim. The predator's eyes and teeth were solely visible in the dim illumination of the lamp. Then came an eerie silence broken only by the whines of the cowering wolves. An incandescent, pure, blue light began to radiate around the young man facing the animals, his face tilted upward, towards the absent sun. He extended his arms to his sides, the force of the blast knocking everything within four meters of him. Accompanying this was the screeching of hundreds of unseen monkeys. High-pitched and proud the screams rang out louder each time the man counterattacked the once again fierce wolves. The iridescent, cerulean light reflected on the boy's face, temporarily making him resemble the coordinator of the trap. The fight was alive in his eyes, he watched the wolves attempt to win a battle they were bound to lose. No command was given for a retreat until, at last, the bruised, broken animals lowered their bodies in a painful submission and slunk back into the shadows as if to say: "This isn't over." The glowing aura of the man subsided, shrouding everyone in darkness.

" _YOU MAY HAVE WON THE BATTLE, BUFFOON, BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN YOU HAVE WON THE WAR!"_ Another obscured figure who had been observing from behind a tree, the lack of light being on his side, exclaimed, the words pulsing through Diego with a vengeful power.

'THIS IS HOW AN ANGEL DIES, I BLAME IT ON MY OWN SUPPLY, BLAME IT ON MY A.D.D. BAYBEH! SAIL!' The ringtone of Diego's phone blasted from where it lay on his nightstand by his bed.

"Uhn…" He unintelligibly moaned, rousing from a particularly violent nightmare. He grabbed the gadget, it's blinding light on the screen causing him to squint in the darkness. Diego sat up in his bed and tapped the screen.

"H-hello?" He hadn't even bothered to check the caller ID.

"Diego? OH, IT'S SO GOOD TO HEAR THE SOUND OF YOUR VOICE AGAIN!" The speaker on the other side of the call said. Diego shook his head in desperation to completely awaken from his slumber.

"Who's calling?"

"Andre, duh."

 _Andre._ Oh, yeah. When Diego had transferred to Middleton Middle from Go City Middle for seventh grade, with him had come a new kid he never really given a second thought to. Andre was all talk and charm, Diego had been the opposite. But somehow, despite their differences but shared appreciation of video games and shows, a friendship developed. Oh, and one more thing. Andre was _filthy rich_. No lie. He lived on his grandfather's own private island and Andre entered the video game making business and both boys put their ideas into the making of the games.

"You still there, GoGo?" Okay, the nickname was crossing the line, but Diego didn't mind having the stupid name if it meant he didn't have to sit alone at lunch and have no partner for science fairs.

"Yeah…" He glanced at his phone at the time. "Please tell me a disaster is going on since you're calling me at 2:43 in the morning." Andre was hesitant with his response.

"New idea for a game, get the journal." Diego sighed with fatigue as he leaned over the side of the bed to reach the half-filled book only to find the family dog, a pink-yes, pink-poodle called Commodore Puddles growling at what seemed to be nothing in the distance. Next to him was the book.

"Talk to me."

"Well, I thought that we should have the designers make a prequel game to _Die Hard 8,_ where, like gamers get to see the backstory of Commander Cristos and stuff. Make it tragic and stuff, the critics will eat it up and we'll be even more famous!"

The boys chatted for a while before, on the other end of the phone, a true disaster struck.

"ANDRE, WHO ARE YOU TALKING TO AT THREE THIRTY IN THE MORNING? I'M SOOO TELLING MOM!" Diego had almost forgot Andre's twin sister whom he shared his bedroom with, Isabella or Bella. Any references to a certain book called Twilight always puzzled him and set the girl off.

"BELLA! NOOOO! DON'T HANG ME UPPPP!-" Diego wasn't surprised that whatever commotion on the other end of the call that had taken place had resulted in the ended call. He didn't mind at all, really, though it had been a great distraction from his nightmare. Still on his phone, he checked the calendar and realized what day it was today. Diego had dreaded the coming of this day for close to three months, it was the first day of school. He shut off the phone, putting it back where it always resided when he was in the house. _Maybe I'll fake a cold...If I rub the sheets hard enough on my face, I can pass as having a fever._

He lay back onto his bed, trying to get at least another three hours of sleep, when Commodore Puddles burst out from under his bed, barking like something disturbed him. Diego widened his eyes at the dog. He had never seen him go this crazy. He decided to follow the dog out of his room knowing he probably wouldn't go back to sleep, rushed down the stairs, past the basement and into the backyard, which wasn't much. The full moon shone on the rotting wood fence posts that the previous owners never bothered to replace that gated in some dying grass and a few wilting tomato plants, their stems poking out of the trellis they used to grow on remained from the time his mother had tried gardening. The poodle took a sharp turn to the left, on the side where, for the longest time had sat an ancient, probably haunted house. He barked and growled furiously at a tree on Diego's side of the fence. Diego looked up-staring straight into the yellow eyes of a crow whose feathers blended completely into the early morning.


End file.
